Amazon just bundled together the fourth-gen Echo and the fifth-gen Echo Dot in a sale that represents significant savings for both devices. You can snag both for $83, which is a discount of nearly $70 if you bought each separately. The bundle’s even available in multiple colors, including white, blue and black. You can’t mix and match hues, however, for the contrast hounds out there.
The bundle includes the fourth-gen Echo, originally released in 2020. In our review, we said that the speaker “punches above its weight” and praised the reasonable price. Well, if the price was reasonable at $100, it’s certainly reasonable now. The Echo is more or less the gold standard when it comes to basic smart home speakers and gives you access to Alexa, premium sound quality (for a small ball that sits on a counter) and an easy-to-use microphone array.
We also noted that this thing sounds even better when paired with another device for the purposes of stereo or multi-room sound. That’s where the Echo Dot comes in.
The bundle also includes the fifth-gen Echo Dot. This speaker may not be as powerful as its older sibling, but it still offers plenty of nifty features, including surprisingly robust sound, a temperature sensor and built-in Eero capabilities. There’s a reason why it made our list of the best smart speakers. You can pair the Dot with the regular Echo for stereo sound in one room or for delivering audio to multiple rooms at once. It’ll be like the music is traveling with you, resembling the line at a highly personalized Disney ride.
It’s worth noting that both of these devices are a generation behind, as there’s a newer Echo Dot with a built-in clock and a fifth-gen standard Echo. Still, the bundle’s a pretty good deal.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazons-selling-an-echo-and-echo-dot-bundle-for-83-as-an-early-black-friday-deal-162027983.html?src=rss
Brave joins the growing list of browsers that come with built-in generative AI assistants. The open source browser developer has started rolling out an update for Brave on desktop, which gives users access to its AI assistant Leo. Brave introduced Leo through its Nightly experimental channel back in August and has been testing it ever since. The assistant is based on the Llama 2 large language model, which Microsoft and Meta had developed together for commercial and research purposes.
Like other AI assistants, users can ask Leo to do various tasks, such as creating summaries of web pages and videos, translating and/or rewriting pages and even generating new content. The Llama 2-powered Leo is available for free to all users, but Brave has also introduced a paid version capable of “higher-quality conversations.” Leo Premium, as it’s called, is powered by Anthropic’s Claude Instant and can produce longer and more detailed responses. Users will have to pay $15 a month for it, but they will also get priority queuing during peak periods and early access to new features.
In its announcement, Brave Software emphasized that Leo preserves users’ privacy. The developer said that conversations with Leo are not persisted on its servers and that the assistant’s responses are immediately discarded and “not used for model training.” It also explained that it doesn’t collect IP addresses and retain personal data that can identify a user. Plus, users don’t even have to create an account to use Leo.
Back in July, Brave came under fire after it was accused of selling copyrighted information to train artificial intelligence models without consent. “Brave Search has the right to monetize and put terms of service on the output of its search-engine,” the company’s Chief of Search, Josep M. Pujol, said at the time in response to the allegations. “The ‘content of web page’ is always an excerpt that depends on the user’s query, always with attribution to the URL of the content. This is a standard and expected feature of all search engines.”
Brave is rolling out Leo on desktop in phases over the next few days. Those using the browser on their Android and iOS devices, however, will have to keep an eye out for its release on mobile in the coming months.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/braves-ai-assistant-comes-to-its-desktop-browser-160010918.html?src=rss
Uber and Lyft have agreed to pay a combined $328 million in settlements following a wage theft investigation by the New York attorney general’s office. According to New York AG Letitia James, the companies’ policies “systematically cheated their drivers out of hundreds of millions of dollars in pay and benefits.” They’ll both now have to pay settlement funds to more than 100,000 current and former drivers in New York, and offer both minimum hourly pay rates and paid sick leave.
In the two settlements, Uber has to pay $290 million, while Lyft must pay $38 million. The AG’s office found both Uber and Lyft shortchanged drivers by deducting sales taxes from drivers’ commissions that should have been paid by riders between 2014 and 2017. They also did not offer paid sick leave. As a result of the settlement, drivers outside of New York City will be guaranteed an earnings floor of $26 per hour (NYC drivers already have minimum rates under Taxi & Limousine Commission regulations), and will earn one hour of sick pay for every 30 hours worked. This will be capped at 56 hours per year.
NYC drivers will get $17 per hour for sick leave, while drivers outside of the city will get $26 per hour. Both rates will be adjusted annually for inflation. Drivers can put in a claim for their share of the settlement on the New York Attorney General’s website. The companies will also be required to update their apps to improve the process for putting in sick leave requests and provide support for pay-related questions, plus earnings statements for drivers which explain their compensation in detail.
Uber separately settled with the Department of Labor today as well following two lawsuits over its failure to provide unemployment benefits for drivers. The company will now have to make quarterly payments into the New York State Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund to cover its drivers, and pay an as yet undisclosed amount in retroactive payments going back to 2013.
The New York Taxi Workers Alliance has sued multiple times seeking unemployment benefits for drivers, as the fight over whether they should be considered employees or independent contractors continues. “Today’s settlement is a victory for Uber drivers across the state who will no longer be denied timely access to life-saving benefits by Uber in their darkest hour, and New York taxpayers will no longer have to subsidize the billionaires at Uber and Lyft,” the NYWTA and Legal Services NYC said in a statement about the settlement. “Drivers for the state’s largest employer will now be able to access unemployment benefits moving forward without endless obstacles and denials.”
New York has been cracking down on app-based service providers in recent years amid a push by the Biden administration to see gig workers classified as employees. A California court, however, slapped down one such bill in March, allowing companies to continue classifying their drivers as contractors. But NY has made progress recently in securing more protections. In September, Uber, GrubHub and DoorDash were told they must pay their delivery workers a minimum wage.
Update, November 2 2023, 3:10PM ET: This story has been updated to include information on a second settlement Uber reached today with the New York Department of Labor, and a statement from the New York Taxi Workers Alliance.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/uber-and-lyft-must-pay-328-million-to-new-york-drivers-in-massive-wage-theft-settlement-155716817.html?src=rss
The Beatles are back, sort of. The fab four just released a new song, the group’s first since 1995. “Now and Then” is being advertised as the final Beatles track, which makes sense given that two of the members have passed and the other two are well over 80 years old.
The song was built using a demo track from John Lennon dating back to the 1970s and a guitar track from George Harrison from 1995. The surviving Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, finished off the tune with the help of modern machine learning technology.
The software, which was first used by director Peter Jackson when making the Get Back documentary for Apple, was able to split Lennon’s vocal from the piano without any bleed, giving the remaining Beatles free rein to add whatever they wanted. You can watch a documentary on the making of the song right here.
As for the song itself, it’s a relatively slow Lennon ballad, with his vocals being a highlight. McCartney lays down one of his effortless bass lines and Starr hits the drums. The guitar solo is in the style of Harrison, but not actually played by him, though he handles some of the rhythm guitar in the background. There’s also a full orchestral arrangement because, well, it’s the Beatles. This likely won’t go down as one of the group’s most beloved tracks, but that Lennon vocal is both haunting and beautiful.
“Now and Then” was supposed to come out back in 1995 as part of The Beatles Anthology, along with “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love”, two other tracks culled from 1970s Lennon demos. Back in the 1990s, however, the technology just wasn’t there to separate Lennon’s vocal from the piano without some serious degradation to the original take.
The Beatles may say this is their last song ever, but we’ll report back in 2053 and see if that ends up being true. See you then. In the meantime, check out the track.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/listen-to-the-final-beatles-track-made-with-machine-learning-and-archival-recordings-153253946.html?src=rss
NASA has announced a new streaming service called NASA+ that’s set to hit most major platforms next week. It’ll be completely free, with no subscription requirements, and you won’t be forced to sit through ads. NASA+ will be available starting November 8.
We launch more than rockets. This month, we launch our new streaming service, NASA+. https://t.co/McWnWOKXSu
No subscription req. No ads. No cost. Family friendly! Emmy-winning live shows Original series On most major platforms pic.twitter.com/5ffjptumUJ
The space agency previously teased the release of its upcoming streaming service over the summer as it more broadly revamped its digital presence. At the time, it said NASA+ would be available on the NASA iOS and Android apps, and streaming players including Roku, Apple TV and Fire TV. You’ll also be able to watch it on the web.
There aren’t too many details out just yet about the content itself, but NASA says its family friendly programming “embeds you into our missions” with live coverage and original video series. NASA already has its own broadcast network called NASA TV, and the new streaming service seems to be an expansion of that. But, we’ll know more when it officially launches next Wednesday.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nasa-is-launching-a-free-streaming-service-with-live-shows-and-original-series-150128180.html?src=rss
YouTube teamed up with its Youth and Families Advisory Committee to identify types of videos that could have a detrimental effect on a teens’ mental health if repeatedly viewed. These categories included videos that idealized certain body weights, features and fitness levels or show social aggression. However, these videos are still searchable (and can be recommended at least once). To this end, YouTube has made its crisis resources — the information that appears if someone searches words like “self-harm” or “eating disorders” — into a full-page panel. The idea is that this will force viewers to take more of a break and more clearly state third-party crisis hotlines and suggestions for searches like “grounding exercises.”
The company is also increasing the frequency of its Bedtime and Take a Break reminders, with the latter automatically set to appear across videos every hour for viewers under 18. The frequency can then be adjusted in settings by the user or a parent. Breaks could be beneficial, given an August 2022 report from Pew Research found that 95 percent of US teens use YouTube, and nearly one-fifth of them are on it “almost constantly.” TikTok, meanwhile, was the second most popular platform, with 67 percent of respondents using it — nearly one-third less than YouTube.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/youtubes-new-teen-protections-limit-recommendations-on-potentially-harmful-videos-133144681.html?src=rss
According to legend, the King of Siam would give a white elephant to courtiers who had upset them. It was a far more devious punishment than simply having them executed. The recipient had no choice but to simply thank the king for such an opulent gift, knowing that they likely could not afford the upkeep for such an animal. It would inevitably lead them to financial ruin. This story is almost certainly untrue, but it has led to a modern holiday staple: the White Elephant gift exchange.
Getting a White Elephant gift right requires walking a very fine line. The goal isn’t to just buy something terrible and force someone to take it home with them. It should be useful or amusing enough that it won’t immediately end up in the trash. It also shouldn’t be easily tossed in a junk drawer and forgotten about. So here are a few suggestions that will not only get you a few chuckles, but will also make the recipient feel (slightly) burdened.
Clocky Alarm Clock on Wheels
KFC Fire Starter Log by Enviro-Log
LDKCOK USB 2.0 Active Repeater Extension Cable
Galaxy Projector
Msraynsford Useless Machine 2.0
Lightsaber Chopsticks
MMX Marshmallow Crossbow
Banana Phone
Friendship Lamp
FAQs
What is white elephant?
A white elephant gift exchange is a party game typically played around the holidays in which people exchange funny, impractical gifts.
How does white elephant work?
A group of people each bring one wrapped gift to the white elephant gift exchange, and each gift is typically of a similar value. All gifts are then placed together and the group decides the order in which they will each claim a gift. The first person picks a white elephant gift from the pile, unwraps it and their turn ends. The following players can either decide to unwrap another gift and claim it as their own, or steal a gift from someone who has already taken a turn. The rules can vary from there, including the guidelines around how often a single item can be stolen — some say twice, max. The game ends when every person has a white elephant gift.
Why is it called white elephant?
The term “white elephant” is said to come from the legend of the King of Siam gifting white elephants to courtiers who upset him. While it seems like a lavish gift on its face, the belief is that the courtiers would be ruined by the animal’s upkeep costs.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/white-elephant-gift-ideas-2023-130058973.html?src=rss
The following article contains spoilers for Lower Decks, Season Four, Episode Ten.
Four seasons in, and you more or less know what you’ll get from a Star Trek: Lower Decks season finale. A hefty dose of in-jokes and references that conclude the season arc by pulling the Cerritos crew together. There’s a focus on teamwork over individual valor, and a belief that Starfleet’s mission is the right one. Add in a gag or two about how Star Trek is better when it’s slow and cerebral, add in a cliffhanger that threatens the show’s status quo, and you’re done.
Just because “Old Friends, New Planets” sticks to this formula, it doesn’t mean it isn’t good, and you’ll laugh plenty of times in the half hour. The show’s ability to wheel out a staggeringly left field comic premise like Twaining is one of its biggest strengths. But the episode is full of solid gags that work on a second or third re-watch, including the lampshading about who Locarno (Robert Duncan McNeill) does or does not look like.
Judged on its merits as an episode of Star Trek, and you’ll find it similarly-winning with great writing and direction. I can’t help but single out Chris Westlake’s score, whose work this season has been just as great as the last. It was wonderful, too, to see Shannon Fill and Wil Wheaton recruited for their cameos in Mariner’s flashback. Who else but a true devotee would make such an effort, and the show’s creative team led by Mike McMahan has an infectious love for Trek’s golden era.
It’s just that there’s also a sense of diminishing returns, or that the show needs to find a higher gear to operate in. The limits of a sitcom’s premise means you can’t do too much to up-end the status quo, but you can feel this desire for evolution. It’s the old trap: You can’t joke that the USS Cerritos isn’t important, and keep putting them in these high-stakes scenarios. Can you go back to fixing a warp manifold if your lead character just toppled a planet-threatening tyrant?
And now, an intervention.
Sadly, one thing bothered me about “Old Friends, New Planets,” which requires me to bring up Star Trek: Picard’s dreadful third season. I’m not relitigating matters here, but I am asking why two Trek series opted to do The Wrath of Khan homages in the same year. Isn’t spotting duplication like this and preventing it at the pre-production stage part of Franchise Overseer Alex Kurtzman’s job? Sure, he can’t be in every meeting, but surely this is why he’s credited as an executive producer on every Trek series currently running, right?
It was nice, however, that both series honored the late CGI artist Fabio Passaro.
It doesn’t help that back-to-back Wrath of Khan homages mere months apart look less like a show of admiration and more like a cry for help. When Star Trek’s creative well runs dry, it’s to Nicholas Meyer’s 1982 classic that they run to for inspiration. As I wrote back in February, the path to Khan is so well-worn I’m not sure there isn’t a single element that hasn’t been strip-mined to oblivion.
And while creatives pillage that film’s iconography, the person behind it has often been persona non grata in Trek circles. Meyer’s still around, and doing good work, but his Trek pitches haven’t had a look-in for a long while. I don’t know if it’s ageism, or if he’s awful in real life, but the fact his work is so popular yet he can’t get a look in feels unjust. And we still haven’t heard anything more about Ceti Alpha V, the Khan midquel podcast that was announced more than a year ago.
I think it’s time that we staged an intervention, and said that Star Trek is no longer allowed, even in jest, to pull anything from The Wrath of Khan. In fact, let’s make that broader, and say that we need to leave those toys in the box for a decade or more. And instead, let’s focus on telling new stories that people will be desperate to honor three or four decades in the future.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/star-trek-lower-decks-season-finale-delivers-exactly-what-it-promises-130051733.html?src=rss
Whether it’s for a tour of the International Space Station (ISS) or a battle with Darth Vader, most VR enthusiasts are looking to get off this planet and into the great beyond. HTC, however, is sending VR headsets to the ISS to give lonely astronauts something to do besides staring into the star-riddled abyss.
The company partnered up with XRHealth and engineering firm Nord Space to send HTC VIVE Focus 3 headsets to the ISS as part of an ongoing effort to improve the mental health of astronauts in the midst of long assignments on the station. These headsets are pre-loaded with unique software that has been specifically designed to meet the mental health needs of literal space cadets, so they aren’t just for playing Walkabout Mini Golf during the off hours (though that’s not a bad idea.)
The headsets feature new camera tracking tech that was specially developed and adapted to work in microgravity, including eye-tracking sensors to better assess the mental health status of astronauts. These sensors are coupled with software intended to “maintain mental health while in orbit.” The headsets have also been optimized to stabilize alignment and, as such, reduce the chances of motion sickness. Can you imagine free-floating vomit in space?
Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen will be the first ISS crew member to use the VR headset for preventative mental health care during his six-month mission as commander of the space station. HTC notes that astronauts are often isolated for “months and years at a time” while stationed in space.
This leads to the question of internet connectivity. After all, Mogensen and his fellow astronauts would likely want to connect with family and friends while wearing their brand-new VR headsets. Playing Population: One by yourself is not exactly satisfying.
The internet used to be really slow on the ISS, with speeds resembling a dial-up connection to AOL in 1995. However, recent upgrades have boosted Internet speeds to around 600 megabits-per-second (Mbps) on the station. As a comparison, the average download speed in the US is about 135 Mbps. So we’d actually be the bottleneck in this scenario, and not the astronauts. The ISS connection should allow for even the most data-hungry VR applications.
These souped-up Vive Focus 3 headsets are heading up to the space station shortly, though there’s no arrival date yet. It’s worth noting that it took some massive feats of engineering to even get these headsets to work in microgravity, as so many aspects of a VR headset depend on normal Earth gravity.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/htc-is-sending-vr-headsets-to-the-iss-to-help-cheer-up-lonely-astronauts-120019661.html?src=rss
Normally, all you get from binge-watching shows on Netflix are dry eyes and a popup asking if you’re still watching — has the answer ever been no? But, Netflix is celebrating one year of its ad-supported plan by giving all users on that tier every fourth episode of a consecutive binge ad-free. That’s certainly not a bad way to entice you into staying on the streamer for just one more episode (cut to five episodes later without moving).
Netflix is also rolling out downloads on its ad-supported tier, claiming to be the first streamer to make the option available for users who have ads included. While the binge-watching perk wont roll out until early 2024, the ability to download shows and movies should be available by the end of the week. However, it’s unclear if downloaded shows will enjoy the binge-watching perk once it rolls out.
For a company that claimed it would never include an ad-supported tier, Netflix has certainly embraced the format since its November 2022 launch. It introduced its first Title Sponsorship during the most recent season of Love Is Blind. Netflix will continue with partnerships for another reality series, Squid Game: The Challenge, and The Crown‘s final season. Early 2024 will also see advertisers given the option to include a QR code in any of their US-based content.
Netflix’s ad-supported plan is by far the cheapest option after the streamer cut its Basic tier in mid-2023. It comes to $6.99 each month, while the Standard plan is $15.49 and the Premium is $22.49. The lowest-priced tier allows for two concurrent streams and has been upgraded to 1080p video quality versus 720p.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/netflixs-ad-supported-plan-will-soon-allow-downloads-and-reward-binge-watching-115033226.html?src=rss
YouTube’s no longer just experimenting with ad-dodging viewers. The platform has gone all out in its fight against add-ons, extensions and programs that prevent it from serving ads to viewers worldwide, it confirmed to Engadget.
“The use of ad blockers violates YouTube’s Terms of Service,” a spokesperson said. YouTube started cracking down on the use of ad blockers earlier this year. By June, it took on a more aggressive approach and warned viewers they wouldn’t be able to play more than three videos unless they disable their ad blockers.
It may be an overly aggressive push: Some people apparently can’t play videos on Microsoft Edge and Firefox browsers even if they don’t have ad blockers, according to Android Police, but we could not replicate that behavior.
— Mat Smith
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Psync Labs’ focus is to improve machine vision and pair this with generative AI to help it, and you, understand what it can see. Its debut security camera, the Genie S, will process what it sees and send you a written description of what (it thinks) is going on. The camera, which doesn’t have the best picture and sound quality, has 32GB built-in storage for $35, and some exciting stuff happening inside.
ViewSay is Psync’s transcription tool that uses GPT, a form of generative AI, to get the camera to describe in text what it’s seeing. ViewSay, which currently costs 99 cents a month (but will jump to $7 per month in the future) can apparently identify objects, sort events that triggered the recording and even let you search through the clips with text, all through your smartphone. It’s early days, but the system shows glimpses of insightful visual analysis .
It’s no longer listed on the streaming service’s website.
Apple appears to have killed off its lowest-cost Apple Music subscription. The Apple Music Voice Plan allowed folks to access the streaming service for $5 per month, as long as they were willing to use it only through voice commands to Siri. However, as of Wednesday, the plan is no longer listed on the Apple Music webpage. As it stands, the cheapest standalone Apple Music option is now the student plan, which costs $6 per month and includes Apple TV+ at no extra cost — if you’re a student.
The platform is ramping up its AI-powered features as it hits 1 billion users.
LinkedIn is adding a new AI-powered job coach for its premium subscribers. The feature will tap into LinkedIn data to help job seekers find, research and apply for roles, and it arrives as the company announced its user base has grown to one billion members. For now, the most prominent feature for job seekers will be AI-generated insights alongside each job posting. The tool can summarize lengthy job descriptions and weigh in on whether the role is a good fit for a user, based on their LinkedIn profile. For example, it can highlight specific work experiences users’ may want to emphasize in their application.
Disney is buying the rest of Hulu from Comcast. It will acquire the 33 percent of Hulu Comcast still controls and expects to pay NBCUniversal around $8.61 billion for the deal, though the final amount will be determined sometime next year. Disney CEO Bob Iger said when he announced the combined streaming app that it’s “a logical progression” of the company’s direct-to-consumer offerings. And hey: Comcast still has Peacock.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-youtube-is-seriously-cracking-down-on-ad-blockers-111532949.html?src=rss
It’s been less than two months since Amazon launched the Fire TV soundbar at its annual fall event, but the device is already on sale as part of the website’s early Black Friday offerings. You can get the brand new entry to the Fire TV line for $100, which is a full $20 less than its original list price. The device can enhance your TV audio with its dual speakers and give you access to a 3D virtual surround sound experience with its DTS Virtual:X and Dolby Audio support.
It can connect to your phone or tablet via Bluetooth, but it doesn’t support Alexa voice commands. And if you want to adjust its volume, you’d have to use its remote. That said, if you have a Fire TV streaming device and a Fire TV-powered smart TV, you can use one remote for all of them — simply plug the soundbar’s HDMI cable to your TV.
Amazon’s soundbar is just one of the Fire TV devices currently on sale at the website. You can get its streaming sticks for up to half off their usual prices, including the Fire TV Stick Lite that’s on sale for $18 and the standard Fire TV Stick that’s listed for $20. If you don’t mind spending a bit more for higher-quality streaming, you can get the Fire TV Stick 4K for $30 instead or the even beefier Fire TV Stick Max for $45. Finally, the TV Cube will cost you over 20 percent less than usual and will set you back $110.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazons-new-fire-tv-soundbar-is-17-percent-off-in-early-black-friday-deal-102022941.html?src=rss
Oscar-nominated actor Scarlett Johansson has taken legal action against an AI app developer for using her likeness in an ad without permission, Variety has reported. The 22-second ad promoted an AI image editor called Lisa AI: 90s Yearbook & Avatar, and reportedly used an AI-generated version of Johansson’s voice and image.
The ad showed a real clip of Johansson in a Black Widow behind-the-scenes clip, saying “What’s up guys? It’s Scarlett and I want you to come with me…”. It then transitions to AI-generated photos and a cloned version of her voice promoting the AI app. Under the ad is fine print that states: “Images produced by Lisa AI. It has nothing to do with this person.” Multiple Lisa AI apps created by Convert Software remain on the App Store and Google Play, according to Variety, but the ad no longer appears on X.
Johansson is “handling the situation in a legal capacity,” said her lawyer Kevin Yorn. “We do not take these things lightly. Per our usual course of action in these circumstances, we will deal with it with all legal remedies that we will have,” he added.
Johansson has one of the best known faces (and voices) in Hollywood and is the spokesperson for high-end companies including Dolce & Gabbana and Louis Vuitton. Given that, it’s hard to believe that someone would even attempt to rip off her likeness, if the claim is accurate (and it’s not exactly a ringing endorsement for the quality of ads on X).
The idea of using AI to rip off celebrity likenesses is a relatively new phenomenon, so the legal ramifications are still being worked out. In one notable incident, actor Tom Hanks warned his fans on social media that videos using AI versions of his likeness were being used to fraudulently hawk products.
Though it’s still a legal grey area, some states have related laws around privacy rights, with California for one allowing civil lawsuits for the unauthorized use in advertising or promotion of someone’s “name, voice, signature, photograph or likeness.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/scarlett-johannson-takes-legal-action-against-ai-app-that-cloned-her-likeness-065505106.html?src=rss
Disney is buying the rest of Hulu from Comcast, the company has announced. It will acquire the 33 percent of Hulu Comcast still controls and expects to pay NBC Universal approximately $8.61 billion for the deal, though the final amount will be determined after an appraisal that will be wrapping up sometime next year. As The New York Times notes, the companies had agreed back in 2019 that Comcast could force Disney to buy its stake by next year and Disney could require Comcast to sell. The cable TV and media company chose to speed up negotiations with Disney instead of waiting until 2024.
“The acquisition of Comcast’s stake in Hulu at fair market value will further Disney’s streaming objectives,” Disney said in its announcement. Earlier this year, the company revealed that it will launch a “one-app experience” that combines Disney+ and Hulu content by the end of 2023. While it didn’t outright say at the time that it had plans to buy out Comcast, that was a pretty big clue that a full Hulu takeover was in the cards. Hulu’s standalone app won’t be going away anytime soon, but its offerings will also be available on Disney+ when the new experience launches.
Disney CEO Bob Iger said when he announced the combined streaming app that it’s “a logical progression” of the company’s direct-to-consumer offerings “that will provide greater opportunities for advertisers, while giving bundle subscribers access to more robust and streamlined content…” As for Comcast, it already has its own streaming service — Peacock — and has been making its shows like The Voice available to its members.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/disney-to-buy-out-comcast-and-take-full-control-of-hulu-054157026.html?src=rss
Apple has announced the latest slate of upcoming games for Apple Arcade, one week after it increased the price of the subscription service for the first time in many markets. Among the titles Apple has in the pipeline is a new, exclusive 3D Sonic platformer.
In Sonic Dream Team, Doctor Eggman has found a way to turn dreams into reality. Sonic and his pals will have to navigate strange dreamscapes as they try to stop their old foe. Along with Sonic, you’ll be able to play as Tails, Knuckles, Amy Rose, Cream and Rouge. Each character has their own unique abilities. You’ll be able to check out Sonic Dream Team when it lands on Apple Arcade on December 5.
Hitting the service on the same day is Disney Dreamlight Valley Arcade Edition. It’s a mashup of an Animal Crossing-style life sim and an adventure game with a host of Disney and Pixar characters you can befriend.
Disney Dreamlight Valleyhas been in early access on other platforms since August last year. It was supposed to become a free-to-play title with paid expansions upon its official release in December, but developer Gameloft has changed tack, instead deciding to charge $40 for the base game on consoles and PC. However, you won’t need to pay extra to play it on Apple Arcade. You’ll also get access to the A Rift In Time expansion at no extra cost.
In addition to those titles, six other games are coming to Apple Arcade over the next couple of months, such as Football Manager 2024 Touch. In a first for the soccer management sim series, you’ll be able to carry over your progress from Football Manager 2023 Touch.
Other upcoming games include cooking title Delicious – Miracle of Life+, Puzzle & Dragons Story (an exclusive) and oil rush-based sim Turmoil+. Knotwords+, a version of the word game that caught fire last year in the wake of Wordle’s success, will hit Apple Arcade on November 3. Indie classic Downwell+(from Poinpydeveloper Ojiro Fumoto) will land join the service’s lineup on November 17.
Coming soon to Apple Arcade:
November ⚽️ Football Manager 2024 Touch 🥾 Downwell+ 🪢 Knotwords+ 🥞 Delicious – Miracle of Life+
December 💨 Sonic Dream Team ✨ Disney Dreamlight Valley Arcade Edition 🧩 Puzzle & Dragons Story 🛢️ Turmoil+
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/a-new-3d-sonic-platformer-is-coming-to-apple-arcade-in-december-163949794.html?src=rss
Roli was an early poster child for the emergence of MPE (MIDI Polyphonic Expression). The company has had its share of struggles over the last 10 years, but it’s still out there trying to spread the gospel of MPE. Its first product after filling for administration in the UK (kind of like bankruptcy) and rebranding as Luminary Roli was a redesigned version of its Seaboard Rise. It’s a flagship, pro-level MIDI controller, with a price to match ($1,399). The new Seaboard Block M takes the company’s signature squishy, continuous keyboard and puts it in a much more affordable and portable package.
The $349.95 Seaboard Block M features the same 5D Touch technology of it’s bigger sibling. That means, when paired with the right instrument (and properly configured), you can play incredibly expressive melodies and chords by sliding your fingers around, pressing firmly into the foam like surface or quickly tapping it for sustained plucks.
Where as the Seaboard Rise 2 is a 49-key controller, with multiple macro controls and its metal frame screams premium, the Block M has just 24-keys and pared back set of controls. Though, you can connect two Seaboard Blocks together to make one modular 48-key keyboard.
Luminary Roli
While Roli doesn’t explicitly say what it’s made from other than “premium materials… constructed to withstand the rigors of touring”, it seems safe to assume the Block M is primarily plastic. It also appears to lack the “precision frets” of the Rise 2, which made it a lot easier to find your way around the keyboard simply by feel.
It has inherited the dedicated MIDI-out jack from the Rise 2, at least. That means you can use it to control a DAW-less setup and skip the computer altogether. This is becoming a lot more common on MIDI controllers at any price point, but it’s still a welcome development.
Of course, the number of instruments out there — hardware or software — that can take full advantage of the MPE controls here are still somewhat limited. The Block M does come bundled with ROLI Studio, does give you a few options for expressive playing. It’s not quite as powerful as Equator 2, the company’s flagship soft synth, though.
Lastly, Roli says you can expect about 10 hours of battery life with Bluetooth on. Though, you can always connect directly to device with USB-C for zero latency and no worries about battery life. The Seaboard Block M is available to preorder now for $349.95, but it’s not expected to ship until March of 2024.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/roli-is-making-is-squishy-mpe-midi-keyboards-affordable-and-portable-again-160044126.html?src=rss
Let’s face it, buying a gift for someone who loves gaming is tough, especially this year. The past 12 months were jam-packed with some of the best releases in recent memory. While we at Engadget cover games extensively, our staff is full of people who genuinely love video games and play all the time. To save you some trouble, here are gifts chosen by gamers that are a bit different, but that most fellow gamers should appreciate all the same.
Backbone One
Dead Space
Drop + Epos PC38X gaming headset
Logitech G305 Lightspeed
Nintendo Switch OLED
Samsung Evo Select microSD card
Tunic
Microsoft Xbox Elite Controller Series 2
Press Reset
Ask Iwata
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/best-gaming-gifts-for-gamers-150008483.html?src=rss
Formula 1 may do its preseason tests right before the new schedule of races begins, but Formula E holds its trials months before the first E-Prix. The official action starts in Mexico City in January, but last week the all-electric series took to the turns of Valencia for its annual preseason test. 2024’s Season 10 will be the second for the ultra-efficient Gen3 car, following a debut that delivered lots of wheel-to-wheel racing and a hard-fought driver’s championship that was decided in the final two races. While there isn’t a new car this year, there’s still plenty to know before the lights go out in Mexico.
A battery fire cut testing short
Teams lost a considerable amount of track time after a battery fire following the Tuesday morning session. The Race reports that the incident occurred in a pit stall occupied by WAE, the all-electric series’ battery supplier. The fire reportedly started from a battery that had been removed from the DS Penske driven by rookie Robert Shwartzman for three separate stints. Shwartzman had to stop on track due to an issue and once the car was back in the pit lane, the battery was removed and taken to WAE for inspection. Motorsport.com reports that the automatic battery safety system was activated causing the driver to stop. According to The Race, witnesses say there was a small audible explosion about 90 minutes after the car came to a halt on the circuit.
Formula E canceled the Tuesday afternoon and both Wednesday sessions while it looked into the cause of the fire. One person was taken to the hospital as a precaution but was released without any treatment. The series’ governing body, the FIA, deemed conditions safe to resume testing on Thursday afternoon following “investigations and findings provided by the technical suppliers,” Formula E explained.
As The Race notes, there has never been a traction battery fire at an E-Prix in nearly 10 years of events. There were incidents in 2015 and 2017, but those affected the smaller 12-volt battery. This was also unrelated to the new Attack Charge as Shwartzman had yet to demo that infrastructure. Formula E only had eight units for 11 teams and DS Penske didn’t have one at the time, The Race reports.
The first female driver in a Gen3 car
Gabriela Jilkova drives the TAG Heuer Porsche
Simon Galloway
During the preseason test in Valencia, teams were required to put rookie drivers in their cars for three of the 18 scheduled hours of running. The lineup included former F2 driver Robert Shwartzman (DS Penske) and current F2 drivers Victor Martins (Nissan) and Zane Maloney (Andretti), among others. The rookie test saw the first female driver in a Gen3 Formula E car as well. LMP3 and GT4 driver Gabriela Jilkova got behind the wheel of the Porsche team’s EVs, completing a 46-lap run. Formula E previously held rookie tests ahead of the Berlin E-Prix and during an extra practice session in Rome, both happening earlier this year.
The first test of Attack Charge
During a 10-hour session last Friday, Formula E held a simulated race, giving teams a 27-lap trial to test setups, run through safety car periods and demo the upcoming Attack Charge pit stops. The series had planned to introduce the stops last season, but supply-chain issues meant the technology would only be ready for the final few races. By then, Formula E felt it would be too late and decided to postpone the debut of Attack Charge to this season.
— ABB FIA Formula E World Championship (@FIAFormulaE) October 24, 2023
There is still a lot of unknown about how the stops will work, but what we do know is that they will take place during a specific window Formula E officials will announce right before the race. The series has also said that teams will be unable to double stack their two cars, a practice of pitting both vehicles back-to-back, which could lead to some interesting decisions about which driver gets priority. An Attack Charge stop is also expected to be quite long at 30-35 seconds. A mechanic hooks up a charging cable to the back of the car while the battery is replenished.
Jaguar and Porsche are quick… again
Mitch Evans in the Jaguar TCS Racing I-TYPE 6
Simon Galloway
After strong showings at the start of the Gen3 era last season, it looks like Jaguar TCS Racing and TAG Heuer Porsche are going to be contenders once again. Jaguar and Porsche vehicles claimed four of the top five times in each of the three test sessions, including quick laps from the Envision team that runs Jaguar powertrains.
Jaguar’s Mitch Evans posted the fastest time of the week, notching a 1m24.474s mark that was over half a second quicker than the fastest lap in last year’s test. Evans, who finished third in the driver’s championship in Season nine, also topped the times in the second session. New teammate Nick Cassidy, who finished second in the championship last season while driving for Envision, kept Evans from sweeping all three sessions with a 1m24.617s in the final running of the week.
Mahindra seems poised to bounce back
Season nine was one to forget for Mahindra. The team that’s been in Formula E since the series began finished 10th out of 11. Significant offseason changes include an all-new driver pairing of Edoardo Mortara and Season seven champ Nyck De Vries. Mortara was fifth fastest in the first session of the week while De Vries posted the third best time in session two. Mahindra was hampered by the battery fire as it suffered damage to its equipment and both cars, but both drivers showed great pace at different points during the week.
The driver’s championship should be close again
19 of the 21 drivers set lap times within 0.7 seconds of each other during the last session of the week. Sure, that’s one-lap pace as opposed to managing all of the nuances of a Formula E race (like energy consumption and regeneration), but it’s clear the drivers are learning how to unlock the potential of the Gen3 cars. Last year, for example, teams were grappling with new cars and new tires, having to figure out the optimal performance for a harder Hankook compound.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/formula-e-preseason-testing-2023-five-key-takeaways-from-valencia-133234132.html?src=rss
Nearly two years after its prototype debut and eight months after its public beta, Sony’s GT Sophy racing AI for Gran Turismo 7 is back, and going by Gran Turismo Sophy 2.0 now. It will be available to all PlayStation 5 users as part of the GT7 Spec II Update (Patch Update 1.40) being released on Wednesday, November 2 at 2 a.m. ET.
We got our first look at the Sophy system back in February 2022. At that point it was already handily beating professional Gran Turismo players. “Gran Turismo Sophy is a significant development in AI whose purpose is not simply to be better than human players, but to offer players a stimulating opponent that can accelerate and elevate the players’ techniques and creativity to the next level,” Sony AI CEO, Hiroaki Kitano, said at the time. “In addition to making contributions to the gaming community, we believe this breakthrough presents new opportunities in areas such as autonomous racing, autonomous driving, high-speed robotics and control.”
The system’s public beta this past February saw the AI competing against a small subset of the game’s user base in the “Gran Turismo Sophy Race Together” event. Players who had already progressed sufficiently through the game were granted access to the special race, where they faced off against four AI-controlled opponents in a limited number of tracks.
“The difference [between racers] is that, it’s essentially the power you have versus the other cars on the track,” Sony AI’s COO, Michael Spranger, told Engadget in February. “You have different levels of performance. In the beginning level, you have a much more powerful vehicle — still within the same class, but you’re much faster [than your competition].” That advantage shrank as players advanced through the race rounds and Sophy gained access to increasingly capable vehicles. In September, Sophy learned to drift.
“We have evolved GT Sophy from a research project tackling the grand challenge of creating an AI agent that could outperform top drivers in a top simulation racing game, to a functional game feature that provides all game players a formidable, human-like opponent that enhances the overall racing experience,” Spranger said in a press statement released Wednesday.
With Wednesday’s announcement, the number of vehicles Sophy can pilot rises from the meager four models available during the beta event, to 340 (yes, three hundred and forty) vehicles across nine unique tracks. Per Sony, that means Sophy can drive 95 percent of the playable in-game models and will select its car for the race based on what the player has available in their garage (that way they’re not randomly facing down a 918 in a Nissan Versa or are otherwise disadvantaged). The five percent of models it can’t drive are the handful of hyper-spec specialty cars like the karts or Dodge SRT Tomahawk VGT.
Players can match against Sophy in Quick Race mode (formerly “Arcade”) regardless of their advancement through the game or current skill level. As long as you have a PS5, a network connection and the latest update patch installed, you too can get Toretto’ed by a stack of algorithmic processes. Good luck.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sony-gt-sophy-racing-ai-gran-turismo-7-ps5-130057992.html?src=rss
It’s easy to assume that the best tech gifts are the most expensive things. But there are plenty of options out there for the techie in your life that don’t require you to empty your wallet. If you’re struggling to come up with a gift for a coworker, family member or friend who’s an early adopter or a tech obsessive, we’ve gathered some of our favorite things that are both small and affordable. The best part: All of these gift ideas come in at $50 or less.
Chromecast with Google TV (4K)
8Bitdo Pro 2
Anker 511 Power Bank
EarFun Free 2S
Tile Mate
PopSocket MagSafe Round Grip
Peak Design Packable Tote
Logitech Signature M650 mouse
Blink Mini
TP-Link Kasa Smart Plug Mini
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/best-gifts-under-50-holiday-stocking-stuffers-130049028.html?src=rss
